Internal-combustion turbine.



P. H. HOLTZ.

V INTERNAL CbMBUSTION TURBINE. APPLICATION FILED AUG.14,19:14. LMJMKPatented July 13, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 1.

I n ATTORNEYS Z .6 v I 7 k a v vA\ i z F W.

P. H. 'HOL TZ.

INTERNAL COMBUSTION TURBINE.

I now FILED Aue.14. 1914.

Patented July 13, 1915. 2 S EEEEEE SHEET 2.

v L .7 ATTORNEYS PETER H. HOIATZ, OF EVANSVILLE, INDIANA.

INTERNAL-COMBUSTION TURBINE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 13, 1915.

Application filed August 14, 1914. Serial No. 856,778.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PETER H. Ho 'rz, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Evansville, in the county of Vanderburg and State ofIndiana, have invented a new and Improved Internal-Combustion Turbine,of which'the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improved internal combustion turbines and moreparticularly to one the principle of operation of which is mainly basedupon the combustion or expansion of a gaseous or solid body'in the formof an explosive element in an unrestricted area, speaking relatively ofthe usual compression of a gas within a restricted chamber as ininternal combustion engines,or the discharge of steam through arestricted outlet as in rotary impact steam engines.

The primary object of the'invention is the production of a rotaryinternal combustion engine which instead of employing gas which iscompressed and ignited or which employs steam to derive kinetic energy,employs an explosive matter or element designed to beexploded byfriction or otherwise when fed' into the machine so as to result in thegeneration of gases designed to exert energy for driving the rotor ofthe machine. Another object of the invention is the provision of anengine of the class described employing a novel arrangement of bladescarried by the rotor in combination with a novel arrangement of bladescarried by the stator so constructed that the maximum degree of powermay be derived from the impulses given by the exploding gases wherebythe efliciency of the-machine is raised to a maximum.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention resides in thepeculiar combination and arrangement of arts to be hereinafter morefully describ illustrated and claimed, it beingalso an object to providea device which is simple in construction, durable and eflicientoperation and not likely. to get out of working order.

Reference is to be had to the. accompanying drawings forming a part ofthis specification, in which similar characters of ref: erence indicatecorresponding parts in all the views, and in which Figure 1 is avertical sectional view of my improved internal combustion turbine thesection being taken on the line l1 of Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a sectional viewtaken on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 butshowing a modification, taken on the line 33 of Fig. 4; Fig. a is asectional view taken on the line 4.4= of ,Fig. 3.

An embodiment of the invention is illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2 of thedrawings in which the numeral 8 designates the casing of the motor orturbine whichis preferably constructed of a lower section 9 having abase portion 10 for supporting the same and a top section 11 which ispreferably secured or connected to the lower section 9 as by means ofco-acting flanges or extensions 12 at the edges of said sections whichare secured together by fastening means which may be in the form ofbolts 13.

Rotatably mounted in the casing on the hollow shaft sections 14 and 15are a plurality of dish-shaped or concaved blades 16 forming curvedpassages 17 between the same and which branch from a central chamber 18which is mainly unrestricted by the communication of the variouspassages 17 therewith, as these passages extend transversely of thecasing in contra-distinction to the usual restricted passages providedin disklike rotary cylinders, so that the energy is exerted throughoutthe area of the blades, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth. Theblades 16 are convexly arcuate at their outer edges, as shown at 19, andcertain of their inner walls are concavely arcuate or dish-shaped, asshown at 20, while the walls opposing the walls 20 in this form of theinvention are made rectilinear, as shown at 21', to allow free escape ofthecombustible matter against the walls 20 to propel the rotor, it beingunderstood that the shaft sections are journaled in the casing, as at22.

Outwardly of the rotor the blades 16 composing the same and which rotatewith the shaft sections, are a plurality of blades 23 which are providedwith oppositely concaved-or-dish-faces 24 with respect to thedisposition of the walls or faces 20 of the blades 16, while the inneredges of the blades 23 are concaved as shown at 25, being thus designedto permit their passage freely around the convex outer edges 19 of theinner blades. The outer blades are further provided with rectilinearwalls or faces 26 opposing the walls or faces 24 and these blades arecarried by side plates 27 which are rotatable on the respective shafts14 and 15 through the medium of the bearing portions 28. The outerrotary blades through the instrumentality of their plates 27 are gearedto rotate with the shafts 14 and 15, and this is effected through theinstrumentali ty of an annular gear 29 carried by one plate and engaginga pinion 29 rotatably carried by the casing and disposed in mesh with apinion 30' fixed to the shaft inwardly of the casing and at one side ofsaid plate so as to cause rotation of one of the shaft sections in thesame direction or movement imparted thereto through the rotation of theblades 16.

In the operation of the engine as above described the hollow shaftsections 14 and 15 are designed to extend toward the center of thecasing or combustion chamber as shown but to be slightly spaced apart'at their inner ends as shown at 31 in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The end ofthe shaft section 15 is slightly restricted, as shown at 32, while theadjacent end of the shaft section 14 is considerably restricted, asshown at 33, whereby a wire or other carrying member 34 having suitablecombustible particles 35 secured thereto at regular intervals, may bepassed through the shaft section 15 and prevented from exploding untilscraped therefrom at the restricted end 33 of the shaft section 14 dueto friction or other means. In this manner the explosion will result inthe generation of gases which will exert force by passing through thepassages 17 and against the walls 20, thus causing the blades 16 torotate in one direction or in an opposite direction to the direction ofthe escape of the gases, whereas the blades 23 will receive a finalimpact against the walls 24 and the force exerted will rotate theseblades together with their connecting parts in an opposite direction tosimultaneously drive the shaft sections in the same direction.

Since the combustible particles 35 are held out of contact with theinner wall of the shaft 15, they will not be ignited before beingfrictionally enga ed with the restricted end 33 of the sha t section 14,and in order to prevent the escape of the gases of combustion throughthe shaft section 15 and prevent ignition of the combustible particlesthereby, a flexible closing means32' is provided at the inner end of theshaft section 15 which will permit the passage 0f the combustibleparticles but prevent the entrance or outward passage of the gases sothat the entire action thereof for operating the motor is accomplished.Owing to the fact that the wire or carrying member 34 snugly fits therestricted end 33 of the shaft section 14, the escape of the gases inthis direction is obviated, the connection in effect being a 'packingjoint.

By way of suggestion it is submitted that 1 for feeding when steam issupplied through the hollow shaft to the interior and caused to escapethrough the passages in the same manner that the gas is described asescaping therethrough, an illustration of the adaptation of the deviceas a rotary steam engine is thus given. A special advantage is that theblades cover the whole area of the relatively circular casing except atthe extreme ends of the casing outwardly of the blades 27.

In the form of the invention illustrated in Figs. 3 and 4 of thedrawings the structure is the same except that the walls opposing thewalls or faces 21 are convexly arcuate and rounding toward the sides, asshown at 36, instead of being rectangular as are the walls 21 and theextreme edges of the blades 16 in both instances terminating inrelatively sharp edges so as to obtain the extreme curvature so that theescaping gases will first strike these walls to rotate the blades in anopposite direction to the direction of escape of the gases and then bedeflected against the concaved walls 24 of the outer blades to impart anopposite moveing continuously around the same. The exhaust gases passbetween said blades and through exhaust pipes 40 branching from thechannel at diametrically opposite sides above and below the jointsbetween the two sections composing the casing. In this manner the freedischarge of the exhaust or spent gases is provided for and backpressure or resistance thereby avoided.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as newand desire tosecure by Letters Patent is 1. In a turbine engine having rotatableelements, a member passing through the en- 'ne and carrying explosivesubstances arranged at predetermined intervals, andmeans 'frictionallyengaged b said substances successively to cause t e explosion of saidsubstances, whereby the gases generated will cause the rotation of saidelements.

2. The combination with a turbine casing.

and rotatable elements therein having relatively unrestricted passageareas; of means explosive elements concentrically of sald passage areas,and means engaged by said explosive elements to explode the same byfriction whereby the gases generated will cause rotation of saidelements in an opposite direction to the direction of the escape of thegases.

3. The combination with a turbine casing, hollow shaft sectionsjournaled in the easing and spaced apart at their, inner ends, androtatable elements mounted on said shaft and having passagescommunicating with the space between the shaft sections, of a memberpassing through said shaftsections and carrying explosive elements tothe said space, the said explosive elements being caused to ex lode bycontact with the end of one of said shaft "sections, thereby generatinggases to cause the rotation of said rotatable elements.

4. In an engine of the class described, the combination with a casing ofconvexly arcuate form; of hollow shaft sections journaled in the casingand terminating at spaced distances from each other, a rotor comprisingblades mounted on the shaft to rotate therewith, said blades havingconvex peripheral faces and concave active faces leading from a centralchamber, blades outwardly of said first named blades and journaled onsaid shaft sections, said latter blades having concaved inner edgescooperating with said convex faces of the first named blades to permitthe movements of the blades by each other and also having concave activefaces,

and an endless member carrying spaced explosive charges passing throughthe shaft sections, the charges adapted to be removed by friction at theinner end of one of the shaft sections and exploded to generate gaseswhich upon escape will exert force against the concave or active facesof the blades to drive the latter opposite directions to'the escape ofthe gases and to each other. r

5. In an engine of the class described, the combination with a casing ofrelatively spherical form; of .hollow shaft sections journaled in thecasing and terminating at spaced distances from each other, a rotorcomprising blades mounted on the shaft to rotate therewith, said bladeshaving convex peripheral faces and concave radiating faces leading froma central chamber, blades outwardly of said first named blades andjournaled on said shaft sections, said outer blades having concavedinner edges cooperating with said convex faces of the inner blades topermit the movements of the blades by each other and also having concaveactive faces, the other faces of the respective blades being adapted tobe brought to symmetrical positions at times to form relativelycontinuous walls, each inner blade spanning a plurality of the outerblades and means for supplying and causing the escape of gases or fluidmatter through the passages from the chamber to impart rotation to theblades. 6. In an engine of the class described, the combination with acasing, of hollow shaft sections journaled in said casing andterminating at spaced distances from each other,

-a rotor comprising a plurality of blades mounted on the shaft .torotate therewith,

- the inner ends of the blades forming with the spaced ends of the shaftsections a cen-' tral chamber in the engine, the blades forming passagesbetween the same extending transversely of the casing and branchingdirectly from said central chamber, side plates rotatably mounted on therespective shaft sections within the casing, a plurality-of tions beingrestricted at its inner end and a member adapted to pass through theshaft sections, the said member carrying spaced explosive chargesadapted to be removed and exploded by contact with the restricted end ofthe said .shaft section, thereby generating gases to rotate the saidrotatable elements. a

' In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification inthe presence of two subscribing witnesses.

PETER H. HOLTZ.

Witnesses:

- Z. L. WOLFE,

J NO. A. ALrHsoN.

mounted on said shaft, one of said shaft sec-

